After consecutive years of flooding, town officials now confident in standing infrastructure
Floods racked Charlotte less than a year ago, destroying roads and trapping residents inside homes. Now, with roads repaired and much of the flood damage undone, officials urge caution in the event of storms this summer.
“Being prepared ahead of time is way better than having to call for backup support when we might already be stretched pretty thin,” said Chris Davis, the town’s emergency manager.
If any damage is incurred to the town’s culverts before the new fiscal year, Charlotte will be able to cover the costs out of pocket, road commissioner Junior Lewis said.
Culverts are tunnels under roads that deal with runoff water. Rainwater runs down hills and flows through them, preventing pockets of standing water from forming.
During the most recent flooding last summer, a culvert blew out on Spear Street, causing catastrophic damage and setting the town back approximately $35,000, said town manager Nate Bareham.
Heavy rain on May 17 brought the water out of the culvert and over Greenbush Road just north of the railroad trestle, but it had gone down by the time this photo was taken.
Culverts below private drives and in residential areas are often a couple feet in diameter at most and no more than 20 feet in length. The one on Spear Street measured 10 feet in diameter and 60 feet in length. When it collapsed, the road gave way and left behind a chasm of churning water. The thoroughfare remained closed for almost a year.
The collapse highlighted a larger issue: Many culverts are easy to clog from flotsam and debris. When that happens, blowouts like the one on Spear Street can occur.
Even on a smaller scale, floods can have severe implications. People can get trapped in their homes.
People should be prepared to stay inside for at least 48 hours with canned goods and water, Davis said, unless they need help from first responders.
In the wake of the flooding last year, many culverts have been rebuilt, often with debris catchers, which could help make last year’s disastrous results less likely. Spear Street was upgraded to a dual-culvert system in a project funded by the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program.
The culvert at the Greenbush Road underpass was covered up in the flooding last year, but Lewis and his road crew used an excavator to clear it out. When the one under State Park Road flooded, Lewis said the state gave him permission to clean it out. On East Thompson’s Point Road, Lewis replaced a culvert totally clogged by scraps of debris.
All of those sites are no longer of concern, Lewis said.
Davis was particularly troubled by the behavior of some residents shortly after the initial flooding last year. As roads gained inches of standing water, residents continued to drive, he said. In one case, a large hoop house had been swept out from a nearby farm, bringing down power lines before obstructing the road, with commuters continuing to drive through it.
In his mind, that needlessly endangered people. Davis’ advice for these types of situations: If you can, stay put.
(Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for The Charlotte News.)
Related Stories
Popular Stories
If you enjoy The Charlotte News, please consider making a donation. Your gift will help us produce more stories like this. The majority of our budget comes from charitable contributions. Your gift helps sustain The Charlotte News, keeping it a free service for everyone in town. Thank you.
Andrew Zehner, Board Chair
